7/14-- Briana's Facilitation Questions

1.In the Capetillo-Ponce piece, he describes the present wave of immigrants to be more "diverse" than the first great wave (1880-1930). He describes the debate over the need to keep the supremacy of the English language, the idea of an American culture and the need to be unified, and a growing sentiment of anti-Latino and anti-immigrant sentiment. What he does not talk about is racism. Why do you think Capetillo-Ponce avoids the discussion of race and the darker complexion of the new "much more diverse group of populations from Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa"? Do you think racism belongs in conversations about the perception of bilingual education programs? By not discussing racism in relation to bilingual education are we perpetuating "conservatism within multicultural education" (Gorski 64)? If many "genuine" school staff believe multicultural education is celebrating diversity, where does celebrating language diversity fit in?

2.In the Gorski article, he makes a clear distinction between the "conservative reframed version" of multicultural education and a multicultural education that brings the sociopolitical back into context. He states, "Multicultural education is not about validating every perspective, but about eliminating racist, sexist, homophobic, classist, and other oppressive perspectives and policies from schools and society" (76). Thinking about your specific grade level and subject, what are some strategies you can think of to intentionally "repoliticize" it? How do we move from 'Celebrate Your Oppression' day to empowering student to challenge and reject -isms?

3.One of the issues I struggle with is thinking about the school I will eventually work in. While we as a cohort are developing our critical pedagogy and teacher beliefs, we must consider our colleagues, administrators, and the school itself. "We must think not only of posters and bulletin boards, but also of the values and culture of the entire school" (Gorski 67). As teachers we have more autonomy for ensuring multicultural education in our classrooms, but how do we begin to "reform schools comprehensively"? What are ways in which we can affect the school climate and culture as a whole? And how do we begin to address the disconnect between the reality of the students and those "unintentionally" undermining social justice? Even Gorski himself is struggling with his administration who soften multicultural education.